One of the hypotheses given to explain plant species assemblies is the lottery hypothesis where species diversity is maintained through random allocation of space. Using such a hypothesis would mean that alien plant invasions happen by chance rather than through detailed mechanisms such as Novel weapons or EICA.
So any alien species may have a chance of becoming invasive within a new habitat.
Can any of you recommend studies where this theory has been used to explain invasion processes of plants. Thanks
This is a great question! Presumably a 'neutral theory of biological invasions' would attribute them just to chance and propagule pressure, and there is an extensive literature on the latter. There have also been recent suggestions that the biogeographical origins of a plant don't matter - plants are just plants - which assume that natives and aliens become established in the same way. See, for example, Valéry, L. et al. (2013) Another call for the end of invasion biology. Oikos 122, 1143-1146, and also various replies from opponents. I hope you get lots of replies this posting. If you sort this out, please write a review.
I suggest you see, for example, Rejmanek, M., D. M. Richardson. What attributes make some plant species more invasive? Ecology 77:1655-1661; Emmi Felker-Quinn, Jennifer A. Schweitzer & Joseph K. Bailey. Meta-analysis reveals evolution in invasive plant species but little support for Evolution of Increased Competitive Ability (EICA). Ecology and Evolution 2013; 3(3): 739–751; S.I. Higgins, D.M. Richardson. A review of models of alien plant spread. Ecological Modelling 87(1–3):249–265, 1996.
Hope I helped you.
I read a paper that goes some way to addressing this (though it is not the primary focus of the paper they do include an assessment of neutral and non-neutral replacement models as a way to assess patterns and scale). See the last part of the paper.
That is Powell, et al. (2011). A synthesis of plant invasion effects on biodiversity across spatial scales. American Journal of Botany, 98(3), 539-548. Which is also linked here in ResearchGate
See https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51165786_A_synthesis_of_plant_invasion_effects_on_biodiversity_across_spatial_scales
Of course the fact that many alien species are disturbance dependent opportunists means that we have to recognize that the flora as a whole is not "neutral" but responds to disturbance in multiple, and sometimes selective, ways.
Article A synthesis of plant invasion effects on biodiversity across...
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